Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Suraksha Yojana

Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Suraksha Yojana

This pension and life insurance scheme was launched by the Government of India in October of 2013 and aims to protect the Indian migrant workers in especially those who migrate to the Middle East in search of work opportunities. The MPSY was specifically designed for the blue collar Indian workers in UAE and was launched in Dubai by Vyalar Ravi, the Union Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs.

These blue collar jobs pertain to those individuals who are required to wear some kind of uniform on the job such as overalls for mechanics, longshoremen or miners. There are more than 2 Million Indians in the UAE and over 65% of this population hold blue collar jobs

Features of MPSY are as follows

It is a social security scheme for blue collar Indian workers who hold a temporary work permit in over 17 Emigration check required (ECR) countries. It is aimed to help these workers secure a corpus for post-retirement income and also to cover the expenses involved in returning to India and resettling into their lives again. It also provides life insurance with death benefit for natural death for the duration of coverage

During their period of work abroad, the scheme provides a home and life insurance cover to the tune of Rs 1 Lakh.

The government also contributes a certain sum based on the gender of the worker. If it is a male worker, the contribution made is Rs 2000 and for female workers, the contribution made is Rs 3000. The contributions are made for the duration of their work period or for a period of 5 years, whichever is earlier.

The contributions made are added to the Pension and Life insurance accounts of the eligible subscribers

The workers also need to contribute certain amount towards the pension fund and return and resettlement fund. The contributions to be made by workers is Rs 400 per annum for return or resettlement fund and anywhere between Rs 1000 to Rs 12000 per annum for the pension fund. This amount is used to provide them the corresponding benefits for life post retirement or for their old age.

The Indian workers also have a support centre in UAE which is the Indian Workers Resource Centre or IWRC and the official partner bank to this scheme is Bank of Baroda which is tasked with enrolling the workers into the scheme